Improvement in water-wh eels



Nrrnn STAirns PATENT Ormes.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WH EELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 4,8115, dated November 10, 1846.

To a/ZZ whom t may conceive;I

Be it known that I, THEoDoRE R. TIMBY, of Cato Four Corners, in the county of Oayuga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turbine Vater-Wheels, which I denominate the American Turbine, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishes it from all other things before known, and of the manner of making, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure l is a plan of the wheel with the cap or top plate removed; Fig. 2, a vel'tical section taken at the line X X of Fig. l; Fig. 3, another vertical section taken at the line Z Z of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4a diagram to define the curve of the issues.

The saine letters indicate like partsoin all the gures.

It is now generally conceded that that classv of wheels called turbine is in principle the best, as numerous essays have shown that they give out a greater percentageof power than those of any other kind; butl still it has been a matter of surprise that in practice the best modifications of this class of wheels do not give out so great a percentage of power as is due to them by theory. By numerous investigations and experiments I have ascertained that this seeming inconsistency between practice and science arises from the fact that theory supposes. the water to be applied to the wheel'and to pass through and out of the issues under the best circumstances, while the wheels heretofore made y are very defective and occasion much loss of power as the water enters and passes through and out of the issues. My improvements therefore relate to the peculiar curvatures to be given to the various parts of the wheel through which the water enters, passes, and discharges7 as these constitute the essential characteristics of this class of wheels. I have also found that a wheel made with two issues by means of two flanges or rims connecting the bottom and top plates so arranged that each iiange or rim constitutes the outside of one and the inside of the other issue will admit of better curves for the passage of the water and with a less weight of material than by any other mode of construction with which I am acquainted.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents the bottom and b the top plates of the wheel connected with the shaft c. These two plates are connected by means of two flanges or rims d d, which extend each from the di ameter of the aperture c in the upper plate to the outer periphery of the two. Generally I cast these rims or iianges with the lower plate and bolt the upper plate to them, or the whole may be cast in one piece or each piece separate. The end f of each flange or rim or that part which constitutes the outside of the issues is made separate and attached by screws or other means so that they can be removed and others of different length substituted when it is desired to increase or decrease the area of the issues. The bottom plate, instead of being flat, is raised in the middle, forming a regular curve from the shaft to about onehalf of the radius, and the upper plate from its inner periphery outward hasacorresponding curve, so 'that as the water descends from' the fiume, instead of striking a flat bottom or even acone,which would break the current in deflecting it toward the iianges forming the issues, itis gradually and without violent shock deflected so as to impinge with its full force on the inner su rface of the rims or iianges, which, being eccentric, present surfaces gradually receding from the center, so that the pressure outward exerts a considerable force to turn the wheel in' the direction of the arrow. As the wheel is impelled by the momentumA of the water due to the capacity and height of the column,'this momentum is graduallytransferred from the water to the wheel as the water moves from the center to the circumference, and thence it follows that if the inner surface of the rims or iianges, against which the water acts, was a curve regularly deviating from a circle the water would soon cease to act; but I have found what I believe to be the true curvature so as to present an equal resistance to the water throughout its passage through the wheel, that as its momentum is decreased the deviation of the curve from the center shall gradually decrease, and this curvature.I attain in the following manner: The aperture for the admission of water through the upper plate is about twbfifths of the entire diameter of the wheel, and thespace rbe-- thirteen-thirtieths of an inch, `the second1 twelve-thirtieths, the third eleventhirtieths, and so on, each diminishing one-thirtieth of an inch, and in about that proportionffor wheels of any desired dimension. The circleis then divided by radial lines into sixteen equall The curves of the. inner-surfaceof.:

parts. the two rims or flanges commence on opposite sides of the center at the circle of 4theinnver periphery of the top plate,fand lpass thence to the next radial division at its intersection with the first circular division, thence through the intersection of the third radial with lthe second circular, and so on in that rsuccession to the fourteenth radial and the thirteenth circular, where the surface becomes concentric, that the water may issue outin tangents to the circle. the detachable 'part of the rim or Lianges connected and extends in a concentriccr've to a greater or less dist-ance, as circumstances may require. Thus it will be seenthatas'the anges or rims pass around with a graduallydiminishing eccentricity, and therefore 'with gradually-increasing radii,so that/'the water may continue to act bycentrifugal frce, the space between the two where ythey pas'sby each other is gradually diminishedein,vefrselyv (or nearly so) in the 'propotin of the in- At the fifteenth radialdivisionV crease of the diameter, so that the area of the l"-'passafge-shalldecrease in width in the ratio of its increase in length. The curvature of Vthe two flanges, it will be understood, is alike in every particular. By this arrangement and these curves itlwillbe seen that there is a""`onstant and regular action of the water on the wheel from the time of its reception to the dischargal'wh'ich is in the line of its greatest mechanical force.

' I claim- 1. Making the tworirns or flanges that overlap each other so as to constitute the two passages and issues ,for the water, with their inner surface of the gradually-decreasing ecc'entricity herein described, whereby the water may continue to-'acton these eccentric surfaces as itsmotionfrom the center ot' the wheel is )gradually diminished, at the same timegradu'ally decreasing the width of the passages between the Vianges inversely as Itheir length isincreased by the increased di- 'ameteigas described. H 2. Making the outer extremity separate 'froin the Vrims orflanges so Jthat they can Vbere'r'nove'd.and others of different lengths 'subsftitutedas described, so that the wheel may be adapted to the varying capacity of the column of water.

T. R. TIMBY.

Witnesses; ,Y 

